The coronavirus pandemic forced many restaurants across the country to close for indoor dining.
Over the last few months, businesses have had to retool their operations and shift to accommodating diners completely outdoors in parking lots, on the sidewalk and, in some cases, in the street, with plexiglass and wood barriers between tables.
With the temperatures starting to drop, others have started to construct tents and bubbles to help ensure the safety of diners while keeping them warm amid the COVID pandemic.
Now some health experts are questioning if these dividers are preventing proper air flow and ventilation and potentially putting people at risk.
"Outdoors means no walls, no ceiling," Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist and professor at University of California, Los Angeles' Fielding School of Public Health, told ABC News. "When I see these tents consist of walls, [they] don’t have the ventilation the way an indoor restaurant would."
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While it is generally believed outdoors is safer than being indoors, these makeshift structures may be problematic if they are walled off.
“Once you start adding walls, you potentially block that wind,” said Linsey Marr, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Virginia Tech. “Once you add four walls, you’re getting close to being indoors and you lose that benefit of being outdoors.”
While domed-off tables do offer some protection as they keep people socially distanced, it’s still not the ideal option.
Marr said the “best case scenario” is eating outside “under the great blue sky, no tent, no roof."
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Even while outdoors, experts still suggest to behave as if you were inside and keep a safe distance, wear a mask when not eating, and wash your hands often.
"There’s no zero-risk scenario," Rimoin added. "Because there’s no control of who you’re seated next to and not wearing a mask."
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